A hub of central Illinois, Champaign is home to the University of Illinois flagship campus and saw median incomes in town grow by 32.2% between 2009 and 2012. Tech companies are expanding in Champaign, including new jobs added at Intel and an expansion of the Yahoo! offices at The Research Park at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Research Park is also supporting job and income growth in Champaign through its startup incubator Enterprise Works, which supports science and technology startups with lab and office space, entrepreneurship classes and the resources of the university community. The city’s population also grew by 4% between 2009 and 2012, laying claim to almost 70,000 residents.

To find the fastest growing cities in Illinois, NerdWallet evaluated 119 cities, towns and census-designated places and examined the following variables:

· Population growth
· Employment growth
· Income growth

“Champaign’s strong population and income growth helped support the city’s ranking on our list,” NerdWallet analyst Maggie Clark said. “The population in Champaign increased by 4.0% between 2009 and 2012, while the median income increased by a whopping 32.2% during that same period.”

Other places in the top 20 include Chicago Heights and Normal. See the full study here.

Champaign County, home to the University of Illinois, features world-class technological resources and superb location and transportation benefits that make it a strategic hub for technology and industrial development.